Monday, November 27, 2006

This was a collapse so massive, so gargantuan, that they don't even have a name for it. This meltdown is so corrosive that it has the ability to eat away at the rest of the season, burn a hole into those remaining five games on the Giants' schedule and leave New York's playoff hopes in a smoldering heap on the floor.

The Giants gave up 24 points in the fourth quarter to lose to the previously hapless Titans, 24-21, yesterday. They are now 6-5, the exact record the Jets have. But the Jets, who entered the season with no expectations, are feeling good about themselves. The Giants, losers of three straight, are feeling lower than the belly of a pregnant snake.

"It's a terrible shock to everybody in the organization," Tom Coughlin said. "It's a ridiculous thing to try to reassess. ... We're going to be sick about this one forever."

The Giants' locker room was so quiet it was like there was a wake going on. Maybe there was for their doomed playoff hopes.

"Shock, if that is the right word, is omnipresent," said center Shaun O'Hara. This loss will rank up there with the one the Giants suffered in that 2001 NFC wild-card game against the 49ers. They had a 38-14 third quarter lead and lost, 39-38. The game against the Titans yesterday wasn't a playoff game, but it may have playoff implications.

Blame the quarterback because he threw the momentum away and eventually threw the game, and maybe even the Super Bowl dream, away.

Tom Coughlin played scared of his quarterback for most of the game, with a game plan seemingly devised by Tiki Barber . . . smashmouth football designed to keep the heat off Manning, and a passing game that featured checkdowns, screens and safe throws, short and intermediate only.

With 40 seconds and all three timeouts left, he played scared of his defense, and scared of overtime, and who could blame him?

Manning with the ball in his hands at his 19 was the lesser of two evils.

If you don't think your quarterback can win the game, if you don't show your team you believe in him, then you have no quarterback, and no hope.

The thread that binds Super Bowl champions is defense and quarterback. Yes, Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson were quarterbacks on championship teams just a few years ago, but they were low-mistake quarterbacks backed by defenses that were among the best ever.

Chicago's defense may prove to be among the best in history, but quarterback Rex Grossman simply is too mistake-prone to carry a team in January.

I know we're getting ahead of ourselves here, but let's say the Bears do make it to the Super Bowl. Do you really think a team with Rex Grossman at quarterback would beat a team with Tom Brady or Peyton Manning at quarterback? Or even Steve McNair, who almost won a Super Bowl once before? Or Philip Rivers, even as bad as he was against Oakland, but backed by LaDainian Tomlinson, arguably the game's best player?Don't think so.

With four turnovers -- three interceptions and a lost fumble -- against the Patriots, Grossman now has lost 15 turnovers in the last six games (11 interceptions, 4 fumbles). His passer rating was 23.7 against the Patriots, continuing a downward spiral.

Arguably, the most revealing statistic about the Bears is their 2-2 record against AFC competition. They now have lost to New England and Miami. They beat the Jets 10-0 but were in a death struggle until the Jets opened the second half with a failed onsides kickoff that led to the game's first points.

With Sunday's results, by the way, AFC teams extended their lead over the NFC to 31-20 in this year's interconference competition. That's a winning percentage of .608 for the AFC teams, the third-highest percentage of the last 15 years in interconference competition.

Certainly not lost in the shuffle was the Aggies shocker that was administered to the Longhorns in Austin. There is light at the end of the tunnel in College Station.

"It's been a great run," Mack Brown kept saying, and he sounded like a man taking his final bow.

But he's not going anywhere. The Texas that went to Southern California the past two Januarys, the second time for an affordable DVD worth of glory. That's gone. The Texas that seemingly had a hold on its rivals. The Texas that had more talent, the Texas that had gotten calls when it needed them, the Texas that had finally broken through to a status it always thought it deserved. That's gone. And the aspect of Friday that signaled the clear and definitive end of this run? The run itself.

When the Aggies went 16 plays, throwing only two passes along the way, to win their biggest game of the century, did they start their own run?

The end of Texas' run is softened because, after all, the mob is still happy about the run itself. In any other year losing to the Aggies in Austin, potentially coughing up a conference title berth to the other rival, Oklahoma, would incite a few people.

The defending champs, instead, get a break. That's a reason fans chose to boo the referees in this one.

But it sure was a short run, wasn't it? The Longhorns still haven't swept Oklahoma and A&M in consecutive seasons since the late '60s. If OU wins today, then Texas' lone Big 12 title under Brown doesn't exactly constitute a dynasty.

Brown acknowledged how well the Aggies played while he also argued a couple of plays decided everything. One of them came after UT took the opening kickoff and drove, as Brown said, "at will." For a brief moment the Longhorns appeared to be precisely what Vegas thought they were.

Then Brown opted for what Dennis Franchione has avoided lately. Brown went for it on fourth down, sending an overweight and overrated runner named Henry Melton into the Aggie muscle. Had Brown known he would score only seven points the entire day, he would have opted for a Fran-like field goal.

Ben Wallace, Bulls: Big Ben signed a $60 million deal to go to the Bulls from the Pistons. He played 19-plus minutes Friday night without grabbing a single rebound. Sheesh. It was his first zero-rebound game in nearly 500 regular-season games. He is still averaging 9.4 rebounds, but he is supposed to be among the league leaders. The four-time Defensive Player of the Year is averaging only 1.6 blocks per game, well below his career average of 2.2.

Two employees have been fired from the city's ice skating rink after making a midnight fast-food run -- in a pair of Zambonis.

The ice-groomer jockeys, both temporary city employees whose names and ages weren't released by Boise Parks and Recreation, had to negotiate at least one intersection with a traffic light on their late-night creep from Idaho Ice World.

An anonymous caller who alerted a telephone hot line set up by Boise Mayor Dave Bieter was gassing up his car at a nearby service station at about 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 10 when he saw the Zambonis roll through a Burger King drive-through, order food, and then return to the skating rink. The rubber-tired vehicles, whose top speed is about 5 mph, drove about 1.5 miles in all, said Parks Department Director Jim Hall.

Tonight, in HD (if you have the means) the Stars play in Detroit on Versus (Channel 95 in HD on Directv). And Dave Tippett is trying his best to make it a playoff situation for Marty Turco and his bag in Detroit - pressure dumped on Marty …

Turco has a 2.97 goals-against average, an .892 save percentage and a 1-7-5 record in 14 games against the Red Wings. But coach Dave Tippett believes it's important to see how his goalie responds to the situation.

"I'm more for throwing him into challenges than take him out of challenges," Tippett said. "Challenges build people."

In his NHL career, Turco is 0-4-2 at Joe Louis Arena, where he excelled when playing there as a collegiate goalie at Michigan. But Turco said playing close to his hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and even closer to his alma mater is getting passé, and waiting for a win there is just getting old.

these days, Diop and Erick Dampier are playing well every game, which is a big reason the Mavericks are on a nine-game winning streak.

Dampier and Diop combined for 15 points and 15 rebounds Saturday in a routine win over New Orleans. During the streak, the tandem has averaged 13.2 points, 14.6 rebounds and 3.2 blocks. The two are never on the court at the same time. Any team north of Houston would take that sort of production out of its center position.

So the question is whether the Mavs can rely on consistency from the position that has been the wart of the franchise since it came into existence.

According to parents of current players, right before Saturday's game Coach Dickey snuck new black uniforms onto the team without the school's permission. The rec-league quality jerseys, pictured here, didn't contain the names of players or the school and conference logos. They weren't cleared with Athletic Director Rick Villareal or announced to the press before the game and might violate agreements with the school's uniform supplier.

During halftime of the game, offensive coordinator Ramon Flanagan allegedly started a physical fight with wide receivers Coach Chip Garber after being told he should play seniors because it was their final home game. The incident got so out of hand the offense received no instruction before going back out to start the third quarter.

Washington forward Donald Brashear was suspended for three games by the NHL on Thursday, stemming from a fight a day earlier between the Capitals and Atlanta Thrashers.

Brashear, teammate Brian Sutherby and Atlanta forward Scott Mellanby were automatically suspended one game while coaches Glen Hanlon of the Capitals and Bob Hartley of the Thrashers were fined $30,000 and $10,000, respectively.

Brashear was suspended for an additional two games under a rule that allows the commissioner to tack on additional games. He will be eligible to return Nov. 30 against Dallas.

With 1:22 left in the Thrashers' 4-2 victory, Atlanta defenseman Andy Sutton was penalized for a hard check along the boards.

Three fights broke out simultaneously. Brashear went after Vitaly Vishnevski. The Thrashers' defenseman resisted, but Brashear kept hitting him and blood eventually flowed. Jon Erskine went after Atlanta forward Marian Hossa while Matt Bradley fought Thrashers defenseman Greg de Vries.

On the next faceoff, Sutherby instigated a fight with Brad Larsen. On the ensuing faceoff, Mellanby provoked a fight with Jamie Heward.

Here is the fight:

Bob,

Ernie your soccer buddy from Fort Worth here with a highlight you have GOT to find on youtube.

In today's Champions League match between Spartak Moskow and Bayern Munich, the second goal by Spartak is scored by Radoslav Kovac in the 72nd minute.

As UEFA describes it on their site:

"Spartak are back on level terms as a corner hits Radoslav Kovác in the mid-drift before he reacts quickest to turn the ball in at close range at the second attempt."

The thing is, it didn't hit his "mid-drift," it hit him in the nuts.

He flinches momentarily before putting the ball in the net. Then to celebrate, he runs to the corner, only he's holding his sac with a look of agony the whole time. When he gets to the corner, he collapses to his knees while his teammates pat him on the head before a trainer is calledover to tend to him.

Funniest goal celebration EVAR!

- Ernie

Nicely done: Here is the goal!

Finally, the comments are back on here on my blog. Just know this: I WILL NOT BE POSTING ON THE COMMENTS SECTION. IF YOU EVER SEE ME POSTING THERE, IT IS NOT ME. DON’T FORGET. Also, keep the language and personal attacks off, and I will keep the comments on.

It's about time Ronaldinho started doing a little something for Barca. He's been practically non-existent this season.

World Footballer of the Year honors should go to someone in the EPL--no question. As much as I had Chelski, me thinks Drogba is deserving. Or...God Bless us, ChristiANA Ronaldo. I hate that dude but man is he a spectacle.

Question, why is it so easy to hate Eli and so easy to love Peyton? Is it only because Eli plays for the Giants? Or is it because Eli perpetually seems to have the "I'll never be as good as my brother and the only good commercial I've done is the one where I give my brother a wet willy"?